Contents

History

Origin

Wally West was born to Rudolph and Mary West in Blue Valley, Nebraska.[3] As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. His parents thought he was setting himself up for failure and did their best to dampen what they believed to be unrealistic expectations, in rather harsh ways. His father encouraged him to work at the same plant he did, but Wally grew frustrated and hurt (and eventually apathetic) by their lack of faith in his abilities.

At a family reunion, hosted by the Wests, Wally accidentally spilled some soda, inciting his father to yell at him for being so careless. Wally quickly went to his room in tears. Once there, a familiar looking man, who he thought to be his uncle, came in and began to speak to him. The man encouraged Wally not to give up on his dreams, giving him confidence that he would reflect back on for years to come.

Kid Flash

One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his Aunt Iris, whom he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions.

When he asked Flash how he got his powers, it turned out the speedster had set up his chemical cabinet just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him; the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. However, it just so happened that the weather that particular day was stormy and, at that moment, lightning did strike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash.[4]

Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, even from Iris. He gave Wally a Flash costume specially tailored to fit him, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery.

The next day, after conquering a crippling fear of fire, Wally apprehended his first criminal, Mister Element. Element had attacked the Art Museum, transmuting many pieces of art into shapeless forms. Element stole the Giardi Atom, an atomic model crafted from gold and jewels. Kid Flash followed Element to the home of Ward Wellington Weaver, owner of another Giardi Atom, where he defeated the villain and turned him into the police.[5]

While in high school, Wally was a member of the Eta Pi fraternity, along with his good friend, Tommy Elkin.[6]

The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. Again, lightning struck, causing a matter-transforming machine to transform Wally's costume into a newer, predominantly yellow costume, the design of which Barry had been toying with in the back of his mind. Wally also joined the Teen Titans. He began to take classes at Taggert University, with hopes of eventually getting a doctorate in physics.

As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan, then Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend, just as Jordan had been Barry's friend.

Because Wally had been struck by lightning and affected by the charged chemicals when he was a kid, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance, effectively propelling Wally to quit his super-heroic career.

The New Flash

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths after Barry Allen sacrificed his life to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, an antimatter ray fired by the Anti-Monitor hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they also did not appreciate Wally's attempts at filling Barry's boots. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight with Doctor Alchemy, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Doctor Alchemy, it finally dawned on him that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Doctor Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash.[5]

After accepting that Barry was dead, Wally still had to overcome his anger of feeling abandoned and forced into a role he did not feel ready for. Coupled with the emotional pain of what had happened with Raven, anger somehow overcame all the values that Barry had taught him, and he was rather rude and childish for a while. All these mental blocks also slowed him down, sometimes to the point where he lost his speed entirely. He also manifested the need to consume large quantities of food after using his powers, another product of his psychological condition.

Wally won six and a half million dollars in the lottery. He was able to leave his small apartment in Brooklyn and buy a mansion on Long Island. He asked Frances Kane to live with him, and she accepted, for a short while. After two weeks, she left, saying they were moving too fast. Soon afterward, Wally invited nutritionist Tina McGee to live with him, even though she was eleven years his senior and not quite divorced. Wally's mother, Mary, also came to live with him, causing tension between the two women.

After Tina left so that she could go back to her husband, Wally lost all of his money in the stock market and had to move into a new apartment. Here, he befriended his neighbor, Mason Trollbridge. He also began seeing Connie Noleski, a Texan model who he had actually been living with for a short time before Tina.

After the alien invasion of Earth, during which Wally fought Durlans in Cuba, the aliens set off a gene bomb that robbed Wally of his superspeed. His friends, Jerry and Tina McGee, set up a device to restore his speed. It sprayed him with the chemicals that had gifted Barry and himself with superspeed while sending an electrical charge through him. However, with his new speed, Wally burned a deep trench across America, stretching from New York all the way to New Mexico. His aura, which had previously served as an energy collector, began to feed directly on him, starving him and affecting his brain, and also sending his consciousness to another energy level. He grew long spines around his body, and stalked around Swainsville, New Mexico, confused and looking for food, contributing to the citizens' belief in a local myth, the Porcupine Man. Luckily, Chunk was able to restore his essence to this dimension by using his singularity powers.[7] Afterwards, Mason Trollbridge was able to pluck the spines out of his body.

Keystone City

In Keystone, he started to date Linda Park, a reporter he had met initially during the Porcupine Man incident.[citation needed]

Shortly after this, Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead.[9] Wally remained skeptical about this resurrection due to Barry's odd attitude.[10] When Barry left Wally to die, Wally gave up on the Flash identity.[11] However, Wally soon learned that Barry had been impersonated by Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. With the help of Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Zoom was defeated.[12]

Next, Wally was sued for superhero negligence. After the trial, Wally tried to increase his own speed, failing miserably and learning that he could not be everywhere, nor save everyone.[citation needed]

Establishing His Own Legacy

Aunt Iris was revealed to be alive and soon she returned from the future along with Bart Allen, Barry Allen's grandson so Wally could help him control his speed. After an extensive training, Bart took up the speedster gig as the costumed hero Impulse.[citation needed]

When Hal Jordan seemingly went mad after the destruction of his former home, Coast City, and became Parallax, he was replaced as Green Lantern by Kyle Rayner, who took his place in the Justice League of America. Flash had some trouble adapting himself to the new Green Lantern. The two eventually overcame their differences and became very close friends, like their predecessors were.[citation needed]

During Zero Hour, Wally was seemingly killed while trying to help Rip Hunter and Waverider save the 64th Century and the timestream itself from waves of destructive entropy.[13] He had actually being flung backward through time. Wally materialized at the West Family Reunion and turned out to be the "uncle" that gave his past self that pep talk. He soon returned to his proper time, but not until he had seen one more vision, a vision of Linda's apparent fate at the hands of Kobra, as well as his own death.[14]

Wally tried to take out Kobra as soon as possible, hoping that he could stop the tragedy. Unfortunately, Bart ruined his plans against Kobra by accident and Wally started to turn into a being of pure energy. This state subsided, but it became a recurring symptom.[citation needed] Worried about his health, Flash asked Jesse Quick to take over the mantle of Flash for him, should he die. This turned out to be nothing but a ploy to make Bart jealous, in hopes that he would get more serious about his legacy.[citation needed]

However, the tragedy was not averted and Wally was forced to enter the Speed Force, where he traded Linda's fate for what he thought would be his. However, he managed to return from the Speed Force and quickly defeated Kobra. This trip beyond the light gave Wally the power to tap directly into the Speed Force itself which granted new abilities, which consisted on projecting the speed force onto objects and many others.[15]

A New Contender to the Title

Soon, a new contender to the title of "fastest man alive" made himself known--Savitar. He had found a way to siphon energy from the Speed Force, cutting off its access to several speedsters, including Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Johnny Quick and Bart Allen; this power drain also resulted in the death of Kapitalist Kouriers speedster/delivery man Cassiopeia.[16]

Wally became aware of the power drain among the other speedsters and he learned about Savitar from a group of ninjas that were sent to attack him. When the speedsters regrouped, they met Jenny Ognats who was a cousin to both Bart and Wally and a descendant of Barry Allen.[17]

Linda managed to learn the background history of Savitar, including the fact that he attacked Johnny Quick in his quest to find the speed force. After learning this information, Wally was ready to fight Savitar. Jenni offered her help, but due to her inexperience, she was asked to give her Legion Flight Ring to Jesse Quick, who was far more experienced and would be more helpful to Wally.

Wally and Jesse arrived at Savitar's castle and first, they had to fight Lady Savitar. Jesse decided to take on Lady Savitar while Flash confronted Savitar. Jesse managed to destroy the transformer in which the speed force had been contained and the speed powers returned to all the speedsters. With their powers restored, Jay, Max, Johnny Quick, and Impulse caught up with Wally and Jesse and proceeded to battle Savitar's army. Knowing that the battle was lost, Savitar threatened Linda and Flash raced to stop him from hurting her. Savitar was unstoppable and Flash could barely keep up with him. During the chase, Jenni talked to Wally and provided the only solution. Flash followed Jenni's advice and he used the Speed Force to contain Savitar, who was pulled into the Speed Force and merged with it. In the aftermath, not wanting the Speed Force to absorb him as well, Wally concentrated on finding his way home... and vanished...[18]

Race Against Time!

Wally couldn't find his way home and ended up bouncing through time. The first place Wally wound up on his journey through time was the 64th Century, where the citizens of that era worshiped the Flash and wanted to be just like him.[19] After leaving that place, he next appeared in the mid-20th Century, where he met his twin first cousins, Don and Dawn Allen (Barry and Iris' kids) and encountered Earthgov's rampant xenophobia.[20] After helping them reclaim their legacy and partially siphoning their energies, Wally time-jumped once again, this time landing in the 27th Century, where he met the Flash of that era, John Fox. Teaming up with Fox, they stopped the villain Chronos, but as Wally started to fade again, Fox told him the name he had forgotten: Linda. Armed with that knowledge, Wally attempted one last time-jump back to the 20th Century; but John, knowing that Wally would not make it back in time to prevent a great disaster, volunteered to jump back to the 20th Century himself to fill Wally's boots. John arrived first, meeting Linda and Piper, facing off against Chillblaine. He fell in love with Linda; causing Linda's love to be distracted by John, which prevented Wally from returning.[citation needed]

However, after realizing that John lied about his reason for coming to the 20th Century and that he could not stand up to the superheroic pressures that Wally normally faced, Linda told him that she would always love Wally, no matter what. Somehow sensing this, Wally emerged from the Speed Force--only to realize he was too late; Linda had been flash-frozen in an attempted second Ice Age by Polaris and Abra Kadabra. However, Wally realized that Linda was somehow still alive and he acquired some tech to keep Linda safe. After this Wally and John dropped her off at S.T.A.R. Labs in the hopes of having Doctor Tina McGee reverse her condition. Fox and Wally went looking for Polaris and Abra Kadabra in order to reverse the damage caused. The two heroes managed to defeat them and reversed the Ice Age they created, but somehow Linda was still frozen solid. At that moment, appearing from a time portal was Speed Metal, on the search for the "fugitive", John Fox.[21] Wally, allowed Speed Metal to take Fox away, but after a change of heart, he sped off to rescue John. Once free from Speed Metal, Fox suggested Wally to use the Speed Force on Linda. As a result, Linda's molecules were sped up and she was successfully saved.[citation needed]

Out Of Commission

Soon a new foe called The Suit showed up in Keystone, looking to kill the Flash. Wally performed a time feat which allowed him to survive the first encounter with Suit, but soon an explosion caused by the criminal broke both of Wally's legs.[22] Confined to a wheelchair, Wally came up with the idea of having Max, Jay and Impulse pretend to be him and confuse The Suit. Wally then tried to focus his energy and made himself a suit made out of pure Speed Force.[23] Clad in the new, golden Speed Force suit, Wally confronted The Suit, saved Max Mercury, pulling him out of The Suit and when The Suit returned pulled Wally inside him, Wally started to vibrate in order to atomize The Suit, whose particles became one with the Speed Force.[24]

Right after this, Wally was attacked by the Mirror Master, who transported Flash into a mirror world. After a series of weird encounters, Wally finally caught the Mirror Master within his speed-stream and hauled him off to prison.[25]

Linda's Disappearance

During a brush with the Black Flash, who had apparently claimed the life of Linda, Wally saved her from the Speed Force. He proposed to her and they were almost married shortly thereafter, but she then disappeared off the face of the earth, and no one, not even Wally, remembered her.

Chain Lightning

Wally then got caught up in an adventure spanning through different eras. Malcolm Thawne, Barry Allen's twin brother, reappeared, beginning the Allen-Thawne feud. Barry's death during the Crisis appeared to have cheated Malcolm out of his dreams of revenge on his brother. Instead, Malcolm focused on Allen's descendants traveling through time in a bid to exterminate them, starting with Wally West. Under the identity of Cobalt Blue, Malcolm ignited a family feud that endured for a millennium.

The feud came to a head in the late 30th Century, where Barry Allen was living with his wife Iris. Wally West arrived to try and protect his uncle. Flashes of all eras between the 20th and 30th centuries arrived soon after, all under the control of Thawnes' spirit due to them all carrying a shard of the original Cobalt Blue gem. In the end, Wally West ended the menace of Cobalt Blue by running so fast that he skirted the edge of the Speed Force. Its power poured into the gem, and Thawne's spirit (and the gem itself) overloaded from the excess energy. Wally then vanished into the Speed Force. At that same moment, a new, mysterious Flash appeared in Keystone City...

The Dark Flash

Linda's disappearance was caused by a mysterious man who had a deep hatred for the Flash; he abducted her and kept her imprisoned within Limbo. Upon her escape, Linda realized she was not in the right world.[26] Linda next encountered this world's Pied Piper, who told her to run from "Wally," as he was dangerous.

Linda ran toward a now-abandoned Flash Museum, where she found a memorial statue dedicated to her dimensional counterpart (named Linda Kiyo Park), "who sacrificed her life to save Keystone City from the villain Kobra."[27] Using his link to Linda, Wally located her and emerged from the Speed Force in this strange world. A battle ensued between Wally and Walter, where they were evenly matched.[28] During the fight, Abra Kadabra appeared and trapped both Wally and Walter. Kadabra explained that he tried to break the bond that draws Wally back to this dimension by casting a spell to make everyone forget that Linda existed and hold her outside of time, but she escaped, landing in that alternate Keystone and drew Wally to her once again. To defeat Kadabra, Wally temporarily merged his physical essence with Walter's, gaining greater speed and learning a few new skills; from this merging, Walter also finally came to terms with not being able to save his Linda from death.[29]

Kadabra, however, faked his defeat at their hands and seemingly discorporated Wally and Linda's essences, sending them through countless alternate dimensions until they found their home dimension, thanks to Bart.[30] Wally and Linda finally made it back to their Keystone City, but Linda was still forgotten from everyone's minds. Wally then decided to impersonate the Reverse-Flash in order to get Kadabra to cast back his spell on Linda.[31] After the spell was complete, Wally revealed his true identity and the final battle between Wally, Walter and Abra Kadabra ensued. Kadabra tried to use the same spell again, but it backfired and he was left with amnesia.[citation needed]

The Whirlwind Ceremony

Wally and Linda started the preparations for their wedding and after a serious discussion, they finally got married. With Nightwing serving as Wally's best man, Wally and Linda became Mister and Mrs. West.[32] During their honeymoon, Wally and Linda attacked by Kobra and also by Lady Flash. Both threats were easily neutralized by Flash and Linda.[33]

Eventually, Wally met Linda's fellow reporter, Billy Batson. When there was a sudden emergency, Wally suited-up while Billy transformed into Captain Marvel and they worked together to avert the crisis. Soon, Wally, Billy, and Linda located the man most likely responsible for the “accident”: Felix Faust. Flash and Wally teamed up again to stop Faust and afterward, Wally and Linda bid Billy farewell as he boarded a train headed for Fawcett City, Indiana.[34]

After the Wests received a bomb as part of their wedding presents, Wally investigated and learned that someone has targeted members of the JLA. After learning the information about the upcoming attacks, Flash saved Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and finally Aquaman from the attacks. Flash soon learned that the enemy threatening him and his allies was none other than the Turtle, the slowest man alive. Flash managed to defeat the villain without any trouble and he soon returned home to spend the night with his lovely wife.[35]

Wonderland

After this, Wally found himself in a strange world in which he was a normal human, a criminal and where Aquaman has been dead for 10 years. He was soon arrested by none other than Mick Rory (Heatwave). Wally woke from a nightmare and met a woman named Fiona, who told him she was the resident social worker for the police department. After a quick interrogation, Fiona left Wally alone in his cell and after a few seconds, Wally heard a familiar voice near his cell. When he turned to the window, he saw Barry Allen. Wally tried to escape prison, but his efforts were futile. At that moment, Officer Rory entered the room, but he was attacked by Captain Cold.[36]

Cold was the only person that remembered and recognized Wally. They soon deduced that they were trapped in an alternate dimension. When Wally and Cold tried to contact the Jay Garrick from this dimension, they learned that in this world, there never was a Flash and the Speed Force never existed.[citation needed] They also learned that most of humanity's history was different and that the absence of The Flash, caused the death of many people, including the members of the Justice Society, Justice League, Teen Titans and more.
Wally then noticed that every time Cold held his freeze gun, it was in his left hand, not his right as usual. Wally then truly realized they were not in an alternate dimension but in a mirror dimension.[37] Flash finally confronted the Mirror Master, who explained that he and Cold tried to imprison Wally on this mirror world without a Flash, but somehow they both were pulled inside as well.

Mirror Master explains that somehow they were double-crossed by another criminal, but now that they have found the truth, they must work together to get back to their own world. Cold, Mirror Master and Flash tried to find a way back, but they were stopped by Plunder. Flash, Captain Cold, and Mirror Master ran into “Mirror Master's Mirror Maze”, trying to outrun Plunder's laser bursts. Preparing to defend himself, McCulloch unsheathed his mirror gun, trying to absorb Plunder's lasers--unfortunately, the lasers activated his gun, creating evil mirror duplicates of Flash, Captain Cold, and Mirror Master.[38]

During the fight, Captain Cold and Mirror Master were defeated, leaving Wally to fight alone against Plunder. Using every resource in the environment, Wally managed to stall Plunder long enough to escape the twisted mirror dimension along with Cold and Mirror Master. Back in the real world, Wally's powers fully returned. Wally and the Rogues soon resumed their rivalry, but they were shocked to see that Keystone City was somehow gone.[39] Standing on the outskirts of where Keystone City used to be, McCulloch realized that the city was not destroyed, but rather "taken".

Blood Will Run

Wally tried to lead a normal life with Linda, but Flash was always needed and soon he had to fight alongside two former love interests: Magenta and Julie Jackum. When the situation was under control, Magenta was arrested for her past crimes and Wally didn't have a chance to talk with any of them about their past. Later that day, Julie was murdered and she was unable to tell Wally about her child, Josh.[40][41]

Cicada and his Cult

Later, Wally learned of a massive ongoing murdering crusade against all the people that he has ever saved and that Julie was also part of the hit list. Saddened by Julie's passing, Wally tried to speak with Magenta to clear things between them, but she lost her mind and attacked Wally, who finally realized she had been possessed.[42] Magenta managed to defeat Wally and took him to an underground temple, where he was stabbed in the chest by Cicada, as he pretended to revive his wife using Wally's life force.[43] Flash managed to break free by exposing Magenta to his speed energy and once free, he proceeded to disarm the members of the cult and used the speed force energy to defeat Cicada. Wally then rejoined Linda and they decided to move back to downtown Keystone City after their house was blown to pieces.[41]

After moving to their new apartment, Wally is forced to leave Linda once again in order to confront a new monster by the name of Tar Pit. Flash manages to get the situation under control, but during the fight, he allowed Captain Cold to escape unnoticed.[44] Right after this, Wally contained a virus outbreak from Iron Heights with help from the Piper and Jay.[45]

Days later, after Julie's funeral, the Weather Wizard appeared and created havoc in order to keep Flash busy while he revealed himself as Josh's father.[46] Flash managed to defeat the Weather Wizard, destroyed the Weather Wand and learned that the Rogues have been working together in secrecy.[47] Around this time, Flash was introduced to Hunter Zolomon, the newest member of the KCPD and partner of Detective Morillo and Officer Chyre.[48]

Around this time, Flash was introduced to Hunter Zolomon, the newest member of the KCPD and partner of Detective Morillo and Officer Chyre.[48]

Retirement and Return

During what has become known as Infinite Crisis, Kid Flash, Barry, Max, and Johnny, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force and Wally once he had gotten his family followed them (which later turned out to be an alternate Earth). He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and the twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime.

Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the residents were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. The Savothians, who were advanced scholars of velocibiology, at first did not agree to help the Wests, but finally relented and agreed to train Linda to deal with the children's rapid aging.[49]

Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. When Wally came back, he indirectly took away Bart's portion of the Speed Force, and with the return of Wally West, the Speed Force also returned as he mainlined it and was practically one with it. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. [50] Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own superspeed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime.[51] Wally later found out that the cause of his children's rapid aging was not because of the Speed Force, but because of the Black Flash. He then absorbed the Speed Force fragments from his children and defeated the Black Flash, thus caused Jai and Iris to revert to their actual age.

Not long after, Wally found himself once again pulling a double-shift for two separate teams. He reunited with his old allies the Titans in order to face the pressing threat of Trigon.[52]

When Orion, was murdered, Wally and Jay investigated to find the Secret Society of Super Villains' hideout and discovered Metron's chair. They figured out that the bullet that had killed Orion had been sent through time thanks to the chair which acted as a gateway. Suddenly, a light filled the room and from within the portal of the chair came Wally's former mentor and idol, Barry Allen. Barry was chasing the bullet that killed Orion through time but was being pursued by Black Racer. Wally and Jay joined him in the race to save Orion's life but they were too late, Orion was killed. Jay was forced to abandon the chase due to not being able to keep up but Wally and Barry tried to escape the Black Racer, ending up in the near future where the world had been taken over by the Evil Gods thanks to the Anti-Life Equation. They visited Wally's Aunt Iris' house to find even she had been corrupted by Anti-Life. After freeing her from the Equation, Barry and Wally tried to come up with a plan to stop Darkseid, who had now taken over the world.[53] They once again ran, the Black Racer catching up with them, and went into a full sprint for Darkseid. The Black Racer was gaining on them as they approached Darkseid, who was in the middle of battling Superman with his followers. The Flashes saved Superman from the followers' omega beams and when they managed to get to Darkseid, they vibrated through him, causing the Black Racer to crash into him, severely wounding the Evil God. After Darkseid was defeated, Barry and Wally reunited with the rest of their friends and family. Superman assembled Wally along with both generations of the Titans, to reveal that Bart Allen and Superboy had been resurrected in the future and brought back to the present. Wally could not be more happy to see his cousin back.

Both the superhero community and the public learned of Barry and Bart's return, assembling parades and celebrations for all of the Flashes. Wally was with the other Titans at their tower in New York, putting together a welcome back party for Barry. He talked with them about what it was like being mentored by someone like Barry while also keeping Jai and Iris, who he had brought along, in line. Wally and his kids all received a huge electrical shock caused by the Speed Force after Barry had accidentally killed Savitar.

All of the speedsters felt it, except for Barry, and Wally called Barry and asked for them to meet up. They were running together, discussing what had happened when they discovered that the Black Flash was now dead. Soon after, they were ambushed by one of Savitar's followers and when Barry touched her, she turned to dust. Barry suddenly transformed in front of Wally's eyes, into the new Black Flash. Wally called the Justice League and the Justice Society for help and they encased Barry in a machine that would remove his connection from the Speed Force. Iris showed up to comfort Barry but when his Black Flash powers went berserk, he unleashed a blast of energy. Wally managed to grab his Aunt Iris and rescue her from the blast. He then witnessed Hal Jordan take Barry away from the other speedsters. Superman and the other Justice Leaguers returned to the speedsters and told them of Barry running back into the Speed Force to protect them. Wally refused to allow Barry to just go after only having been back for a short time.

Wally decided to run into the Speed Force himself to rescue Barry. He also promised Bart that he would try to get Max and Johnny back as well. Jay questioned Wally about his idea, telling him that he may not come out but Wally explained that he had been in the Speed Force before and that as long as he has Linda, he would be able to find his way back as he did when he first was sucked into the Speed Force during his battle with Kobra. Wally ran as fast as he could, memories of his past passing by him. He ran deeper and deeper into the Speed Force which was now tainted by the crimson lightning of the Negative Speed Force.

After a long run, Wally managed to find Barry and Max but Johnny had already been killed. Barry told him that Eobard Thawne, the original Reverse-Flash, had returned and that he was the one behind all of this. Wally took Barry's hand and the trio of speedsters forced themselves out of the Speed Force. In a flash of lightning, Wally reappeared on Earth to find Thawne fighting Jay and Bart. Wally joined in on the charge to stop the Reverse-Flash. The speedsters ganged up on Thawne, seemingly having the upper hand. Wally, however, did not realize the damage Thawne had done to his children and Iris was forced to take Jai's connection to the Speed Force due to the connection between them killing them both. Liberty Belle arrived and took Iris, who now had super speed like her father, to fight the Reverse-Flash.

They overwhelmed Thawne and Wally had the idea to regenerate their suits as well as giving them a second wind of energy. They all gathered next to Wally who had learned the trick of creating a suit out of the Speed Force rather than keeping it in the ring. They all imagined their suits in their heads and then Wally helped them all regenerate their suits. However, as the lightning cleared, Wally was donned in a modified suit, with white pupils and having a much darker color scheme, similar to one he wore during his days when he first learned of the Speed Force. Wally aided Barry in attacking Thawne before the Reverse-Flash took Barry away from the other speedsters, making him fight on his own.

Wally managed to catch up to Barry and helped him journey into the past to stop Reverse-Flash from killing Iris. They managed to stop him from hurting Iris and tried to bring him back to the future. During the fight, Thawne revealed to Wally that Jai would grow up to destroy him.

Blackest Night

Wally races across the globe with Barry and Bart to pass to every hero around the world Barry's message of the rise the Black Lantern Corps and their universal invasion. He later arrives at Coast City with Bart, Justice League, and the Teen Titans to aid Barry in taking a stand against Nekron, the black personification of Death and Lord of the Black Lanterns.[54][55]

Convergence

This section of the history takes place during Convergence, a massive crossover event revisiting characters from past eras and realities. The villains Brainiac and Telos plucked them from their own timeline and stored them together, causing them to cross over into each others' reality. Its precise chronological placement and canonicity may be unclear.

Incomplete
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While running with Iris and Jai, Wally is taken into Convergence with Gotham by Brainiac and Telos and is trapped for a year without his powers. After regaining his powers, he attempts to help the Justice Riders, but they were already defeated by Flashpoint Hawkman and Hawkgirl.[56] He later fights Flashpoint Wonder Woman with help from his kids and Fastback.[57] He later allies with the Earth-2 Justice League to fight Deimos.[58]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Speed Force Conduit: While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is the fastest of all the Flashes perhaps rivaled only by his mentor, Barry Allen. He is arguably the fastest being that has ever existed.[59] He is currently fast enough to easily break all the barriers and even enter the Speed Force. Wally has, on several occasions, traveled much faster than light and entered and exited the Speed Force by his own volition. The Flash is considered to be one of the most formidable and powerful meta-humans on the planet.

Superhuman Speed: Wally West is by far the fastest being on the planet, and is arguably the fastest being to ever exist, making him one of the most powerful beings to exist. Theoretically, speeds greater than Mach 10, are dangerous to both the people and to the environment. This speed would still be the equivalent to approximately 2 miles per second, allowing him to cross the United States in about 23 minutes, or circle the world in about 3 hours, but the Speed Force has shown that if needed, Wally West can use it to prevent such effects from occurring, hence why he is able to run at speeds much faster than light on the planet Earth without it having devastating effects on the planet. He can also run across bodies of water and up the sides of buildings. Wally has shown that he can achieve practically any speed he wishes and that there are no limits to his speed. He has been able to casually move beyond the speed of thought, easily move so fast that even an attack moving at the speed of light seems to be standing still and at the same time scans the face of over five hundred thousand people for a specific expression in less than a picosecond.[citation needed] He is able to easily save and carry over half a million people 35 miles away from a Nuclear Warhead that had already detonated including the ones at ground zero in only .0001 microseconds (10 picoseconds, or 1/100,000,000,000th of 1 second) - a feat that would require moving 13 trillion times the speed of light[60][61] - and even move so fast that he exists everywhere at once.[citation needed] He is able to casually reach speeds such as 500 times the speed of light.[citation needed] He has moved and ran so fast, that he was capable of outrunning and defeating death itself (the Black Flash) by outracing it to the end of time/space, past entropy, the next Big Bang and into the next Universe.[62] His speed is so immeasurable that he has moved and reacted by the attosecond (an attosecond is one quintillionth of a second. To put this in perspective, one attosecond is to one second, what one second is to the age of the universe),[63][64] and has even reacted and calculated by the zeptosecond (Which is one sextillionth of one second).[citation needed]

Superhuman Agility: Wally's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are heightened to levels greater than any human being. He is able to easily maneuver on falling debris and objects, while moving at super-speed.[65]

Superhuman Stamina: The Flash possesses vast superhuman endurance that is nearly inexhaustible. He was able to run non-stop for over 10 days straight without tiring against Krakkl (Who was stealing the speed of his entire race and adding it to his own. A race where every single individual could achieve the speed of light.), through time and space across existence (Everywhere from the fourth dimension to the Big Bang was their track field.) at speeds so far beyond light and so unimaginable, he was constantly breaking through all the barriers and even brushed the true Speed Force itself directly.

Superhuman Reflexes: Wally's reaction time is enhanced to levels far greater than any normal human being. He is able to easily perceive the movements of other speedsters, and react to danger and events.[65]

Superhuman Strength: The Speed Force enhances Wally's physical strength to levels superior than the average human being. He is strong enough to lift 800lbs with no sign of physical strain, even while running with it.[66] He has also been seen single-handedly reconstructing several ruined buildings, and moving heavy beams and girders into place.[67]

Aerokinesis: By running in a circle at a certain speed, Flash is able to create a vortex with a variety of effects. One effect is pulling the air away from the center in order to suffocate an enemy. Another effect is levitating whoever and whatever was in the center. Also, able to send anyone or anything into another dimension when running around them. Some other effects are acting as barriers to movement or funnels for toxic gases. The Flash also can spin his arms to create directed funnels of hurricane speed air that can knock down barriers or reduce the speed of a falling object. When putting out forest fires, what the Flash does when he runs around the perimeter is create a pocket tornado. The updraft lowers the temperature inside the funnel and raises the fire off the ground which takes away its fuel source.

Decelerated Aging: Along with every speedster that draws from the speed force, the loved ones of the speedsters will gain eternal youth like Jay's wife and Barry's wife ages have shown.

Dimensional Travel: Wally West has shown to be able to traverse dimensions with his own powers, unlike Barry Allen, and the other speedsters. However, Wally now accelerates to the point that he is skirting the very edge of the Speed Force dimension or even entering it. In order to enter the Speed Force dimension he must exceed light speed, which he can easily and instantly do.

Electrokinesis: As a conduit of the Speed Force, Wally's body generates large amounts of the electrical energy that he draws from the Speed Force. This Speed Force lightning emanates off of him, especially when moving at superhuman speed.

Energy Projection: Wally is able to project his electrical Speed Force energy in certain cases, such as when he is giving momentum to objects.[67]

Energy Construct Creation: Wally discovered if he concentrated, the Speed Force could be used to create solid constructs which he used to compose his costume. The first time he used this ability was to create a solid armor enabling him to run despite having broken legs. Later examples included sealing up the openings of his costume against disease, creating pockets for holding things, etc. His costume itself is a construct molded from the Speed Force. He was also able to construct a vibrational prison of Speed Force energy to hold enemies.[68]

Enhanced Mental Process: The Flash's mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allowed him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of minutes, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. Wally can also read at super-speed, but rarely takes advantage of this ability to learn at increased speeds, although Jay Garrick has done so and has become a jack of all trades in several disciplines and languages.

Flight: By spinning like a helicopter, he can even perform a limited kind of flight. Since his power is a quantum/molecular phenomenon, the Flash has been able to fly just as other metas are able to (and there have been other flying speedsters in the past, such as the deceased Johnny Quick) because he can control his absolute molecular energy and direction and force it in the direction he wished to move without running. Though he rarely makes use of this ability as he enjoys running. The Speed Force also allows him to run in frictionless environments, as he was able to run in space itself, as casually as he was running on the ground without any outside assistance.

Enhanced Senses: The Flash possesses enhanced senses that allow him to perceive normally at super-speed, and the ability to alter his perceptions so that falling objects can appear to be standing still. His ability to alter his own perception of time is so great, that if he wishes, the tick between a second can pass for millions of years. He can even push this ability to the point, that to him, it is as if the Universe is standing still. It does not truly stand still, it is his own perception of time that seems to stand still, and his body automatically adjusts to his perception, hence, the slower he views the world, the faster his body moves through time/space to adjust to his perception.

Infinite Mass Punch: Traveling near the speed of light acquired the relativistic mass of such speed to impart blows which could hit with a force greater than that of "a white dwarf star", Flash's own durability regulated by the Speed Force in such cases. Relativistic effects take over as a body approaches light-speed (His control over his powers and the Speed Force is so great, that he can choose to ignore these relativistic effects if he wishes to). Visual input will begin to blueshift and his body's mass will increase towards infinity. With this ability, he was able to knock out a Martian as durable as Superman from Mount Rushmore to the plains of Africa, all with one devastating punch.

Molecular Acceleration: Wally can vibrate his molecular structure at various levels to achieve various effects. If he chooses, Wally can excite the molecules of whatever substance he vibrates through to critical mass causing it to explode.

Intangibility: Wally can vibrate his molecules to achieve an intangible state. While in an intangible state, the Flash is immune to any airborne viruses and can breathe regularly. He can also vibrate so fast that light does not reflect off him, rendering him invisible.

Phasing: The Flash has always possessed the ability to control his speed and angular momentum at the molecular level, and control his molecular interactions to allow his body to pass through any substance.

Enhanced Vision: By shifting his vibrational frequency, Wally was capable of seeing through the highly advanced cloaking technology of Gorilla City.[69]

Regeneration: By accelerating his healing factor while using the Speed Force to sustain him, Wally could heal from any injury instantly, without prematurely aging like his alternate version, Walter West.

Self-Sustenance: He has shown that he can survive in harsh environments such as space without any hindrance and has shown that he can gain all the energy he needs from the Speed Force's infinite storage of energy.

Sharing the Force: "Lending" velocity to objects or people already in motion. Since his interaction with the Speed Force, he may also lend his speed and angular momentum to another object or person. This may allow others to run alongside with the Flash.

Speed Force Aura: The Flash's body is surrounded by what he calls his "Speed Force aura". This aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. This includes friction and airborne particulate matter. With this aura, he is able to absorb kinetic energy. Wally can sync his aura with his children, giving him the ability to pull either of them to him with a thought.[70]

Superhuman Durability: Due to his body being surrounded by his protective "Speed Force aura", Wally's durability is heightened to immense levels. It protects him from injury from high speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents.

Speed Force Empathy: Wally can sense when another Speed Force conduit is troubled, and can be drawn to the location of that speedster.[71]

Speed Lend/Steal: Wally is able to lend or steal speed and/or momentum from anyone or anything, including beings such as Superman or Inertia effectively turning them into living statues. Also can steal speed from bullets and other fast moving objects thrown at him or at others. This ability is so great, that he once took the speed from the entire planet, and its population, including the very fast beings such as Superman, Jay Garrick etc. He cannot, however, steal speed from certain speedsters such as Professor Zoom, who creates his own negative Speed Force and is able to corrupt/negate the Speed Force, and Barry Allen who is the source of the Speed Force and its sole creator.

Time Travel: Wally West has shown to be able to traverse time with his own powers, unlike the other speedsters. He can traverse along the time-stream to specific points as they become visible, much like watching a movie in fast forward or reverse. In order to time travel to different periods, he must exceed light speed, which he can easily and instantly do.[19]

Abilities

Notes

Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Trivia

As Kid Flash, Wally for some years took to coloring his red hair brown when in costume in order to further conceal his secret identity.

↑He would have to make a 70 mile round trip approximately 354,667 times, as he alternated between carrying one and two people. He would therefore travel 24,826,690 miles in those 10 picoseconds, indicating he can run at 8.93 sextillion miles per hour, or slightly over 13 trillion times the speed of light.

This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of The Flash, and a member of the Flash Family of speedsters. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Flash Family members" category.

This character is or was a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats.This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.

This character is or was primarily a member of the younger superhero team known as the Teen Titans, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Teen Titans members" category.